Technology use may be associated with a lower risk for dementia, study finds
Rory Curtis, a 25-year-old from the UK, fell into a coma following a car crash. On waking up, he was convinced that he was Hollywood's Matthew McConaughey.
Two years on, Curtis still maintained his fluency and, according to Express UK, he said, "I wasn't really that good at it at school and then I'm there acting all French in their sort of arrogant yet sophisticated way. It wasn't me at all. I don't know how I know it—I just do."
Curtis also developed the ability to speak fluent French, despite not speaking a word of the language since dropping it in school at age 13.
It was only when he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the bathroom mirror that his delusion was foiled.
De Luca's new-found addiction reportedly led to regular visits to a very young 'adult entertainment professional', spending about US$3,430 on just one visit. A judge ruled that he was incapable of managing his own affairs, and De Luca's son seized control of his finances and two houses.
British woman Valerie Leah contracted swine flu three months before she was due to give birth in 2010. Fearing that her baby was at risk, doctors reportedly put the critically ill woman in a coma.
When she awoke, they placed her newborn son into her arms. Four months later, the two were discharged, completely healthy, and Leah became one of a few people to deliver while in a coma.
In Nepal in 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah (R) fell into a coma after killing 11 Nepalese royals, including his parents (the king and queen) and turning the gun on himself. The succession rules technically gave him his father's position as king as long as he was alive, so for roughly 54 hours Nepal was ruled by a mass murderer in a coma!
People can also awake from comas and feel as though they have only just blinked, with absolutely no memories of anything in between.
When Lisa Russell woke from a three-week coma in 2005, she couldn't recognize her mother or her boyfriend, although she did recognize her father. She didn't remember her home either, and broke up with her boyfriend because she couldn't rekindle her feelings.
Many people who come out of comas remember the sound of a loved one reading a book to them, and sometimes the content of what's being said gets warped into dreams.
A UK woman named Candace Emptage fell into a six-week coma in 2010 and awoke believing that she was 22, that Princess Diana was alive, and that the Spice Girls were still top of the charts.
A three-year-old named Layla Towsey reportedly fell into a coma after contracting meningitis in 2009. She was put on life support, but after five days she suddenly began singing ABBA's 'Mamma Mia.' She ended up making a full recovery.
When she learned she was not in the '90s and instead she was, in fact, 40, a mother of a 14-year-old, and had a boyfriend of six years, she says, "Shock doesn't even come close to what I felt."
"I didn't have to think about it, it felt completely natural to me," he said, according to Express UK. It took several days for his English to return, but he retained his fluency in Mandarin.
One Reddit user told a story about waking up from a four-week coma and having an eidetic and photographic memory, suddenly having the ability to recall entire conversations verbatim—even the date and time—and memorize images with a quick glance.
Sandra Ralic, 13, had only just started learning German at school in Knin, Croatia, when she fell into a coma in 2010. When she awoke, she was fluent in the language, but had lost her Croatian.
After a woman awoke from an induced coma, she had no memory and believed she was a man. She said she later realized she had a catheter between her legs.
Ben McMahon, 19, fell into a coma following a car accident in Melbourne, Australia. He had studied Mandarin in high school and had visited Beijing, but only had a basic understanding. When he awoke, however, he was fluent in both speaking and writing, but no longer in English.
There are various cases of people who wake up from comas and have to re-learn how to breathe, pee, and swallow because they had been supported with ventilators, catheters, and feeding tubes for so long.
According to a Reddit user, their green-eyed father had been in an eight-week coma, and when he awoke, his eyes had changed drastically to blue.
See also: Weird and wonderful facts about your body.
A coma is a state of deep and prolonged unconsciousness in which a person can’t respond to normal stimuli like touch, light, or sound. The majority of cases are at least a couple of days, though with some examples it can be weeks, years, or even decades. This vegetative state is especially intriguing, however, because though your body slows, your mind continues to turn—and very strange and unbelievable things can happen.
People who have gone through the surreal experience of waking up from a coma have wild and varied tales of what happened, and they sometimes emerge with a new skill or a different taste, or even an entirely altered idea of the world. Click through to see some of the craziest, most bizarre things that have happened to people in a coma.
Extraordinary stories from people who were in comas
From learning another language to losing and gaining addictions
HEALTH Curiosity
A coma is a state of deep and prolonged unconsciousness in which a person can’t respond to normal stimuli like touch, light, or sound. The majority of cases are at least a couple of days, though with some examples it can be weeks, years, or even decades. This vegetative state is especially intriguing, however, because though your body slows, your mind continues to turn—and very strange and unbelievable things can happen.
People who have gone through the surreal experience of waking up from a coma have wild and varied tales of what happened, and they sometimes emerge with a new skill or a different taste, or even an entirely altered idea of the world. Click through to see some of the craziest, most bizarre things that have happened to people in a coma.